Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am saying that the State should be investing in it.

Through protesting and campaigning, we stopped the Government giving away Coillte's harvesting rights, yet all the emphasis is on handing over theassets to the private sector rather than on recognising where there could be strategic investment with significant potential to generate revenue and deal precisely with issues such as the pensions reserve fund. We need the reserve fund because it is a safe investment that will actually guarantee the pensions of citizens and deal with the pensions crisis that is looming for the country. What I propose presents a win-win scenario. There would be a benefit in terms of carbon credits and EU money. These are the areas we should be examining.

A matter that was recently brought to my attention — I am not an environmental expert by any means — was that of geothermal energy. My point on it may be very obvious to people from rural areas. Everything that grows, including grass and scrub, can be turned into energy. I refer to biomass. While the Government's emphasis has been on building huge industrial wind turbines, attracting all of the associated controversy and major questions, a report issued recently claims that if we were to spend on converting the Moneypoint power plant into a biomass plant one tenth of what the Government is planning to spend on turbines in partnership with big private financial interests, we would meet our targets for carbon dioxide emissions reductions. Should we not be considering this? We could grow the trees and there would be an economic benefit in terms of jobs and the environment. Revenue would be returned to us rather than go to private investors.

I do not have time to address all areas of strategic investment. I worry deeply about the emphasis the Government is placing, through this legislation, on the facilitation of profit-making by private investors and interests who will drain away our resources and the revenues that could otherwise be generated to the benefit of citizens and the economy.

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